Finding Darkness
by WayTooOldForThis
Summary: Years ago, a child was born inside Azkaban Prison, her birth kept secret by her family and by the Ministry. Eleven years later, she begins school, and begins searching for her past.
1. Chapter 1

_Harry Potter and all related characters and ideas are the property of J.K Rowling. Bloomsbury, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, and other people with more money than me. _

_Yes, it is an OC. Whether or not she becomes a Mary-Sue remains to be seen, but I will try to avoid it. _

**Prologue**

Steel colored clouds hung low over the stone fortress, a light but unrelenting rain fell and shrouded the entire island of Azkaban in a pale mist, hiding it from muggle eyes, but also not allowing its inmates even the slightest glimpse of the choppy grey waves that might stir their memories of the world that existed beyond.

Inside, in a dank, dark cell that never saw a glimpse of daylight or a breath of fresh air, a man leaned against the stones, and listened to the screams of the other prisoners that were loud enough to penetrate the walls. He did not know how long he had been there, it might have been only a few weeks, or twenty years. In Azkaban there were no days and nights, only the darkness and chill all the time. Only that, and the constant presence of the Dementors in his mind, reminding him of the mistakes he had made, providing him with images of a scene he had not actually witnessed, the deaths of his best friends, and over and over again seeing a scene he had witnessed- "James and Lily Sirius! How could you?" and then the explosion of fire and flying concrete, screams, and blood…

Another scream, a woman's, penetrated the walls, followed by a sound that did not belong in the walls of Azkaban Prison…the high, thin wail of an infant. Sirius Black wondered a moment, for this was a place no child should ever be, but seconds later the sound was gone, and he wondered if it was the madness setting in. He thought, perhaps, the madness would be a blessing. He knew the dementors were coming, he couldn't hear them, but he could feel them. Summoning what little strength he had, the man let go of such human thoughts, and transformed, settling stretched out on the stone floor, and hoping for the only refuge that prisoners in Azkaban might seek- sleep.

* * *

In another cell not so far away, a woman lay, exhausted and shivering. For Bellatrix, the madness had come quickly, but the physical pain of that day had left her more lucid than she had been since she had come to Azkaban prison. Bella wondered why she felt the dementors more keenly than most. Perhaps, she was darker than most, had done more to remember. She had not felt guilt then, and nor did she now, but nonetheless they used those things to torture her. Bella knew only one thing, that she kept always in her mind. Her master would return, that was what had kept her from succumbing to the lure of surrender, of death, like so many others. 

Now, there was another reason she would go on, even as the madness clawed at the edges of her mind, she stared at the door of the cell, where the dark-cloaked witch from the ministry had taken the child. Her child. When the Dark Lord returned, when he released her from this Hell, she would find the child. A girl. A smile twisted her features, no longer as beautiful as she had once been, turning gaunt already, as she thought about the little girl. A witch, of her blood, hers was a family of proud, powerful women. Yes, the child would be great. Bellatrix only had to wait, until the Dark Lord came for her. He would reward her, his most loyal servant, beyond her wildest dreams, and she would be reunited with Rudolphus, reunited with their daughter. With that day in mind, one thing the dementors could not take, she closed her eyes, hardly feeling the pain of her body, but instead seeing in her mind the baby's grey eyes she had in reality seen for only that split second. Her daughter.


	2. Auriga

**Chapter 1- Auriga**

Andromeda (Black) Tonks shifted slightly in the uncomfortable chair, trying to understand what the rigidly official young Ministry staffer was saying. A child, _Dear Merlin_, there was a child.

"How is this possible?" she asked, a tremor in her voice. "She has been in Azkaban for-"

"Eight months," supplied the young woman, whose name was Donna Carrington. It was her first month working for the Ministry's Department of Family Services, and this had fallen on her desk, of all the things. She was not an uncaring woman, but if ever a child ought to have been kissed by the Dementors at the hour of its birth, she thought, it was this one. "Apparently Mrs. Lestrange was pregnant when she was incarcerated."

"Why was I called?" Andromeda asked.

"Mother's next of kin, as your parents are deceased; you're the child's guardian by default."

"Bellatrix wouldn't have wanted that, she would have wanted Narcissa. My sister, Mrs. Lucius Malfoy."

"Wizarding law, Mrs. Tonks. You're older than Mrs. Malfoy. Of course, if you are unwilling or unable to serve as the child's guardian, we will contact Mrs. Malfoy. Is that your decision?"

"No! No, not yet. I just…may I see the baby?"

The woman sighed. She really didn't have time for this, she had other cases. A whole stack of them. There were so many children who had lost their parents in the war and its aftermath, and she didn't want to spend a second more than she had to on the child of one of the people who had made so many of those orphans.

"All right, the nursery is just down the hall."

* * *

The woman left her alone in the nursery, where there was only one other baby sleeping in a crib in the far corner, and nurse bustling in and out every few minutes. Andromeda stood over the crib, and sighed at the sight of the little girl, only a day old. 

"Not a very good start, little one, born in Azkaban," she said quietly, touching the pink cheek. The baby opened her eyes, which were not blue like most babies', but already the stormy grey of the Black family. "Is there any chance for you, I wonder? Or are you damned already?"

Although she knew she should go, tell them that she wanted nothing to do with the child, tell them to call Narcissa as Bella would have wished, Andromeda couldn't harden her heart against the infant who could not choose the circumstances of her birth. Just as she could never really hate Bellatrix. In her mind, there were two Bellas- one the fearless, wild, brilliant little girl who had been the sister she loved, and one the dark, terrible, wicked woman who had tortured and killed. And perhaps, in the memory of that magical little girl, she would do what she could for the baby.

Why should it be her and not Narcissa? Narcissa certainly did not lack resources, she had a young son, and she would certainly raise her niece as her own. Why did Andromeda hesitate then? Because she knew what Narcissa would do with Bella's daughter. She knew the kind of witch they would make her. If the child's future was uncertain now, it would be sealed the second she was placed in Narcissa's arms.

"Who are you, little one? Your mother's daughter, or your own person? Who do you want to be?"

The sins of her parents should not be hers, and so Andromeda decided she would do what was best for the little girl. She just didn't know yet what that was.

* * *

Amelia Bones gave a low whistle. 

"A baby…I never would have thought," she shook her head. Andromeda waited, as they sat in a corner of the Ministry's cafeteria. Andromeda's first thought had been to contact Amelia, who had gone through the Ministry's school on magical law and now served as a clerk for the Wizengamot. She was also the only person Andromeda knew with any legal expertise, and an old friend from Hogwarts. "Well, they're right Andy, you're the next of kin. It doesn't matter what Bella would have wanted, as a prisoner, her wishes are irrelevant. Such matters are very confidential, especially given that this is such a…sensitive…case. Do you want to take her?"

"I would, but that the second Narcissa heard I had adopted a baby she would know who it was. I don't know that I could keep her safe. I think she should have a chance to start over, with a new family, one not related to us. And really, I don't want another baby Amelia, not now that Nymphadora is away at school. But I would like to see her with a _good_ family. A family that isn't headed by Lucius Malfoy, for one. That's not even giving her a chance."

"Be careful what you say about the Malfoys around here, they line a lot of pockets," Amelia replied. "But I can see what you're saying. There are a number of magical families willing to adopt children who were orphaned by the war, but…"

"…not necessarily the child of Death Eaters," finished Andromeda. "I understand. But I just keep thinking that it's not her fault where she was born. Isn't there some way we can have those records destroyed? Her past erased? Think of the danger to her if people knew of her parents. All the people Bellatrix tortured, all the families of the people she killed would want their revenge, and I'm not going to say she doesn't deserve it, but this _baby_ doesn't."

Amelia nodded slowly. "Let me see what I can do. No child deserves that stigma."

Andromeda returned to Donna Carrington's office, and told the woman she was going to take responsibility for the child, at least until a more suitable family was found. Donna Carrington didn't really care if a suitable family was found or not, she simply wanted the little girl off of her hands and out of her caseload. She called the nursery to have the baby brought, and processed the paperwork.

"Would you like to give her a name?" she asked as Andromeda prepared to leave.

"What?"

"The child has no name. The papers simply refer to her as Baby Lestrange. Would you like to choose a name?"

Andromeda paused. She had never been one to follow family traditions, but it might well be the little girl's only connection to her blood. So she should have a Black name. A star name. Andromeda thought back to her astronomy lessons, thought of Bella's star, the warrior. A strong name, for the baby would need to be strong to survive.

"Auriga. Call her Auriga."

* * *

Andromeda had forgotten how much work a new baby was. Her own Nymphadora, now at Hogwarts, had been a happy and easygoing child, crying only when she had a reason to cry. Auriga seemed to cry constantly, and for no reason Andromeda could see. 

Ted took it in stride, as was his way, when she left in response to a mysterious call from the Ministry and returned with a baby. To his credit, he never spoke against her sisters, knowing how hard it was for her to see what they had become. He had never said a single thing against Bellatrix despite the knowledge that she would probably kill him if given the chance. Instead, he accepted the baby for what she essentially was, an orphan. He played with her, walked the floor with her at nights when she never slept, just as he had done with his own daughter. And as the days passed, Auriga seemed to adjust to her temporary new home. Considering the conditions Bellatrix had lived in for eight months of her pregnancy, and the circumstances of her birth, Auriga was surprisingly healthy, though rather small. She was really a pretty, rosy-cheeked, if rather fussy baby. As much as Andromeda had determined not to become attached, she could not help but start to care about what happened to her niece.

It was then that Amelia contacted them. She had found the perfect family.

* * *

"They wanted to start a family, but then seeing all the children orphaned by the war they decided to adopt instead. They were really hoping for an infant, and they were so pleased to hear about Auriga…" Amelia explained, when they met in a café, rather than the Ministry office she shared with three other staffers. 

"Did you tell them…?"

"I only told them that the child was an orphan as a result of the war," admitted Amelia. Her conscience didn't trouble her, there was no lie to that. Little Auriga's parents would die in Azkaban.

"It is a magical family?"

Andromeda didn't mind if the little girl was raised by muggles, except that if anyone should ever find out the girl's true origin, she didn't want muggles in the way of a battle that was not even part of their world.

"Yes, they live in Scotland, on the Isle of Skye. It's a place with strong magic, and gets a fair number of magical visitors, and they run a flourishing bed and breakfast catering to those visitors who don't want to stay in muggle accommodations. It's fairly remote, but they would send her to Hogwarts."

Andromeda felt only a little sad, they sounded like wonderful people. It was the best she could do for Auriga. She knew she couldn't keep the baby, for in the back of her mind there was always the fear the Bella would not die in Azkaban, and if she didn't, Andromeda was the first person she would find to reclaim her daughter. Bella's child could grow up happy and safe with a family in Scotland; she could leave her past and her blood behind her. It was a chance, and it was all Andromeda could do.

And so Auriga Lestrange became Auriga Hunter.

* * *

Later that night, Amelia Bones was the only one left in the small office she shared with three other Wizengamot clerks. She sat at her desk, troubled by a case that should have made her feel accomplished. The daughter of Bellatrix and Rudolphus Lestrange would go to a family in Scotland who would love her, Amelia felt sure of that. She was firm believer that an infant was a blank slate. Auriga would grow to be whatever the Hunters made of her, her blood was of little consequence. You never knew what a person might become. After all, weren't Bellatrix and Andromeda of the same blood? 

What troubled Amelia was that Auriga's past might follow her. Her parents had made many enemies in their career of service to Lord Voldemort. Enemies whose hatred was so strong they would do anything for revenge, even if that meant the life of a child who was innocent herself.

Amelia looked at the file on her desk. In it was every bit of evidence and official documentation that a child had ever been born to Bellatrix Lestrange in Azkaban, every bit of evidence that the child had been released into the care of Andromeda Tonks, and every bit of evidence that she would be adopted by a family called Hunter in the remotest part of Scotland. In short, it was the only evidence that a child called Auriga Lestrange had ever existed.

Amelia rose and closed the office door, and then went to the fire that burned low, and built it up. She waited until the flames were licking high, and then she threw the file into the fire, and watched it burn until it was nothing but ash.

* * *

_A/N- "Auriga is an ancient Northern Hemisphere constellation featuring one of the brightest stars in the heavens: Capella. Auriga is usually pictured as a charioteer; the youth Auriga wields a whip in one hand and holds a goat (Capella) and her two kids in the other._


	3. Diagon Alley

**Chapter 2- Diagon Alley**

"Daddy! _Hurry!_"

"Calm down Auriga," Colin Hunter put a hand on his daughter's shoulder to still her squirming as they waited for the archway into Diagon Alley to rearrange itself. "Ollivander's isn't going anywhere."

"But we're not just going to Ollivander's! We have to get robes, and books, and a cauldron, and potions things…and…" She looked at him sideways with a pleading look. "Oh can I please have an owl Dad? I'll use it to write to you _every single day_! I promise!"

"We'll see," he replied, and she wasn't even really listening anymore, because they stepped through the arch into Diagon Alley and she let out a little "Oh!" Auriga had lived in Scotland all her life, and yet never been to London or to Diagon Alley. Colin Hunter was not a man who liked crowds or big cities, he preferred their small community on the Isle of Skye, and what his daughter knew of the rest of the world was what she had learned from talking to the many witches and wizards who came through their hotel. Since his wife had died, all of his attention had been focused on his daughter, and he was determined that she should have the best of everything for school. It was worth the trip to see her infectious excitement.

"Where will we go first? Let's get my wand! What kind do you think it will be?"

"No way to guess, the wand chooses the wizard, they say…"

"Or witch…" she pointed out severely.

"Or witch. Here we are."

The inside of the shop was dim and silent and dusty. Behind the counter, they could just make out rows and rows of little boxes.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice, and they both whipped around to see the man who had spoken. "Ah, Colin Hunter. I remember, twelve inches, maple and dragon heartstring."

Auriga glanced up at him worriedly. There was definitely something spooky about Ollivander and his ability to remember every wand he'd ever sold.

"Yes, well, this is my daughter, Auriga. She's beginning at Hogwarts this year."

"Yes, yes, of course. Let's see Miss Hunter. Right-handed, aren't you?"

"Yes, Sir."

As she spoke, a tape measure was swirling around her head, nudging her to hold her arm out, and then wrapping around her wrist. Ollivander didn't even look at it, but he must have known what it said, for he was already pulling boxes off the shelves.

"Here we are, give that a try. Nine inches, mahogany and unicorn hair."

She picked it gingerly out of the velvet box, and then, with a nervous glance at her father, gave it a small, hesitant wave. Instead of the harmless shower of sparks, the account book on the counter burst into flames. Ollivander quickly put it out, and snatched the wand away. "Dear, dear, I am rarely that far wrong. No matter, try this one. Ten inches, willow. Nice and bendy."

She took it, but before she could even wave it he snatched it back. "No, no, not that one. Here, try this."

Through five more wands nothing seemed to suit her, and she was beginning to think that maybe there was something wrong with her, but Mr. Ollivander didn't seem to mind, and her father hugged her lightly against his side.

"Not to worry, not to worry, we'll find the right one yet," Ollivander said, climbing high on the old ladder and taking down a box from the very top, a particularly dusty one. "Try this. Ebony and phoenix feather, eight inches."

She took it, and immediately felt the rush of magic through her fingertips. With a little flourish and no longer feeling unnatural, she brought the wand down with a shower of silver sparks.

"Well done, _a ghráidh,_" her father said enthusiastically.

"Yes, well done," agreed Ollivander. "Most interesting. That is a powerful wand for a young girl. Very powerful indeed, and inclined toward…aggressive magic." He handed her the paper-wrapped package. "Good luck at Hogwarts, Miss Hunter."

They went next to the bookshop, where they collected all of her books from the harried looking man working there, who had interrupt them three times to break up fights between books he was keeping in a cage. Auriga edged a little closer as he poked them with a broom, and saw that it was called _The Monster Book of Monsters_. One of them growled at her and she wanted to laugh, except that the bookstore man looked so irritated with them.

"What next?" her father asked as they emerged from the bookstore.

"An owl?" she suggested, with a sideways look through her eyelashes that always seemed to work on him. She had been a little disconcerted by Mr. Ollivander, but now the shopping trip seemed fun again.

"How about robes?"

"Oh all right…_then_ an owl?"

He didn't answer, but he didn't say no, just hustled her into Madam Malkin's.

"Hogwarts? Right this way, and we'll get you all fixed up." She led Auriga to the back of the shop and made her stand on a footstool, and then pulled a long robe over her head and began pinning it up to the right length. As she was finishing up another little girl came in for Hogwarts robes as well. Auriga rarely saw other magical children, most of the people who came to their hotel were adults, come for the magical properties of the Island and did not bring their families. The little girl looked perfectly normal, with long brown braids and a rather snub nose.

"You're all finished, Dear."

She lingered among the racks as she walked back to the front of the store.

"Can I get dress robes too Dad?"

"You don't need dress robes, not for first year."

"I know, but the school ones are so…black, and I want some in pretty colors. Look at all the colors they have!"

He sighed. "All right, you may pick out one color."

She took twenty minutes to finally decide on deep purple. As they were paying for them, the bell on the door sounded. It was a woman who entered, pausing to glance around the shop, as though looking for someone. Apparently she didn't find them, because she had just turned to go when her eyes fell on Auriga. She gasped audibly, bringing her hand to her chest as though in pain. Auriga felt as though her eyes were riveted on the woman, who she was certain she had seen before. She felt breathless, and she heard Madam Malkin's voice as though from a great distance.

"Ah, Mrs. Tonks, you must be looking for your daughter. She was in just a few minutes ago looking for you. You just missed each other."

The woman started, as though coming out of a trance, dragged her eyes from Auriga.

"Oh, yes, I was…thank you, Madam Malkin," she said vaguely, but made no move to leave.

"Are you quite all right, Mrs. Tonks?" Madam Malkin asked delicately. "You look very pale."

"Oh yes, I'm fine," she said quickly, with a slight wave to dismiss the concern. "I best try to catch her. Good day Madam Malkin," she gave Auriga the slightest of nods as she left.

"Dad…" she began hesitantly as they stepped out into the bright August sunlight. "Who was that woman?"

"What woman?"

"The one who just came into the shop."

"I don't know, certainly no one I know."

"I've seen her before."

"Where?"

"I don't know. Didn't she stare at me funny?"

"I think that's your imagination, _a ghráidh_."

"No, I'm sure of it," she insisted stubbornly.

"Don't worry about it, _a ghráidh_. I suppose we ought to go look at owls, hadn't we?"

"Oh, _thank you_ Dad!"

* * *

As they rode back to the train station on the Knight Bus, Auriga was busy sticking her fingers into the cage of the little brown spotted owl they had gotten, but he was lost in worry. He had noticed the woman who had stared so intently at Auriga, and he also knew why his daughter found the woman familiar- they looked very much alike. 

He was regretting bringing her to Diagon Alley at all, but she had been so excited there was no way he could have denied her coming. Auriga had no idea she was adopted, and he and his wife had never considered the possibility that she might have living family. If she did, why would they have not taken her in? And yet there was no denying a strong familial resemblance to the woman in the store.

He watched his daughter, trying to get the owl to snap at her fingers, and wished he didn't have to send her to Hogwarts at all.


	4. A Certain Sort

_Many thanks to those who have reviewed._

**Chapter 3- A Certain Sort**

Auriga was quite certain she had never been so excited. She loved their Island and the little hotel she'd grown up in, but she had looked forward to going to Hogwarts for as long as she could remember. Only in the last year or so, her life had started to feel just a bit too small and confining. She would never tell that to her father, she wouldn't hurt his feelings for anything, but she was glad to be going to Hogwarts, to meet new children from different places, and most of all to start really learning magic. She could feel magic sometimes, living on Skye, feel it buzzing around her or tingling her fingertips, and it made her restless when she wasn't allowed to use her wand or try any spells.

She tried to act grown-up, and inconspicuous, as they made their way among the muggles in King's Cross, although a few muggles glanced a bit oddly at the owl (named Xanthe) sitting atop her luggage trolley, most of them were too busy to notice anyone but themselves, and most of them didn't remember it once they looked away, courtesy of a subtle charm.

"Now just go straight at the barrier, don't stop and don't worry you're going to run into it. Close your eyes if you're worried about crashing."

She nodded. The barrier looked perfectly normal and solid, but she knew this was how everyone who'd gone to Hogwarts got to the platform, so she gave her trolley a hard enough push that she wouldn't be able to stop it if she wanted to, and stumbled right through the barrier. Her father was right behind her.

"Well done," he said, but she barely heard, watching the scene in front of her. So many people! Not only children of all ages, from the littlest come to see off their older siblings to almost grown-up seventh years, but all of their parents as well, some in normal wizarding robes and some actually dressed as muggles. And beyond all of them, the huge scarlet train billowing steam.

"We better get your trunk on the train, you don't want to get left behind," he father said, snapping her out of her daze, and helpfully levitating her trunk for her, since she couldn't do it and that was easier than lifting it.

The train whistled, and she realized with some surprise that it was getting ready to leave. She had never been away from her Dad for so much as a night, and even though she was excited about Hogwarts, it had hardly occurred to her to realize how much she might miss him. He looked a little bit pained by the thought as well.

"Now I bought you that owl, so mind you use her to write. And write as soon as you get there so I know you've arrived safely."

"Yes, Daddy."

"And mind your classes, and behave yourself, I don't want to hear you've gotten detentions or anything."

"Yes, Daddy."

"All right then, you better get going," he said roughly. She hugged him hard around his waist, and he hugged her back briefly and patted her back. He was not naturally demonstrative, but she knew he would be very lonely without her. He gave her a gentle push toward the train.

She did, determined not to cry like a baby, and was going to wave out the window, but she couldn't get to the window around a trunk blocking the entire hallway. A little girl was pushing it energetically toward a luggage rack, but it wasn't moving at all.

"Do you…need some help?"

The girl looked up, pushing long, straight, brown hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind, thanks."

Auriga got on the other side of the trunk and they, between the two of them, managed to maneuver it to the luggage rack and hoist it up.

"Whew!" the girl said, brushing her hands off on her skirt, and then held one out to Auriga. "Thanks! I'm Cassandra Vaisey. People call me Cassie."

"I'm Auriga Hunter."

"That's a cool name."

"I always thought it's kind of weird. I mean, it's because it's a constellation, and it's not really like my Dad to come up with something weird like that."

"It's way more interesting than mine anyway. Where are you from? We live in London."

"I'm from Scotland, but way north of Hogwarts."

"Do you…do you want to sit together? I mean, on the train, you know?" Cassie asked, a little shyly.

"Oh yes!" Auriga agreed, relieved to have someone already to sit with, so she didn't look like she had no friends.

"My brother, Damon, is in his fourth year," Cassie confided as they looked for an empty compartment to sit in. "But he said if I even so much as spoke to him he'd pound me. Not that I'd want to, he's a loser. He keeps saying I'm going to get sorted into Hufflepuff."

"What house is he in?" Auriga asked. Her father said he would be proud of her no matter which house she was in, but she knew he had been in Ravenclaw, and that sounded like a good one to her.

"Slytherin. I know my parents are hoping I'll be in it too."

"Are families usually?"

Cassie glanced at her, eyebrows drawn together. "Didn't your parents go to Hogwarts?"

"Of course!" Auriga said, anxious to make it clear she wasn't muggle-born. "My Dad was in Ravenclaw, and I don't know what house my Mum was in, but they both went there. Just my Dad didn't talk about it very much."

Cassie nodded, reassured. "There aren't any empty ones, let's just ask someone if we can sit with them. They look like first years too," she said, pointing to a compartment where two young boys were studiously ignoring each other. She pushed open the door. "Can we sit here? All the others are full."

One of the boys said cheerfully "Sure!" and the other just glanced at them from under longish straight black hair raised a shoulder in a vague shrug.

"I'm Bradley Chambers," said the cheerful boy, shaking hands with each of them in turn. "From Warwickshire."

"I'm Cassie Vaisey. This is Auriga Hunter."

"Nice to meet you," said Bradley, and Cassie turned to the other boy. He had finally decided to show at least some interest.

"You're Damon Vaisey's sister?"

She crossed her arms. "Who's asking?"

"Relax. I'm Leo Harper, and I just know Damon Vaisey plays quidditch."

Cassie shrugged. "Yeah, well, gits can play quidditch too."

"Are you guys first years too?" Bradley asked, and they all nodded. "From where?"

They spent a while talking about their homes and families, until a woman came by selling sweets. They crowded out into the corridor to buy something. Another small boy was looking over the cart in wide-eyed wonder, asking "and what's that?"

"Those are chocolate frogs, dear," the trolley woman said.

They all bought candy, and went back to sit down, comparing and trading purchases. When the compartment door was closed Leo rolled his eyes toward it, and said "That kid must be a mudblood, did you see? He didn't know what all the sweets were."

Auriga frowned. Her father didn't allow her to say "mudblood," he said it was swearing, and the one time he'd heard her say a different swear word he'd made her clean the garage without magic, so she hadn't been inclined to test it. Leo said it easily, as though he did it every day, but she wondered if he was just trying to show off.

She was about to try to change the subject, but she didn't have to, because the train shuddered to a stop.

"What's going on?" Bradley looked out the window. "It's gone all dark, why did we stop? There's someone outside the train."

"Is it broken?"

"It's gone all cold," Cassie said, hugging herself. "I don't feel so good…"

A second later, the lights went out, leaving them in complete darkness. Auriga heard Cassie gasp.

"Well bugger this," said Leo's voice boldly. "I'm going to go see what's going on."

Before he even moved, the door began to slide open, and Auriga forgot what she meant to say as a wave of ice passed through her and a cold mist clouded her eyes. She began to feel dizzy, and then suddenly the whooshing sound in her ears cleared and she heard someone laughing, laughing wildly and horribly. She tried desperately to see who it was, but there was nothing but the swirling whiteness and the mad laughter.

Slowly, the laughter died away and someone was patting her cheek.

"Auriga? Auriga?"

"What?" she blinked, and found three worried faces studying her. "What happened?"

"You kind of slumped over in your seat, like you'd fainted or something…"

"But what happened?"

"It was a dementor. I've heard of them but I've never been around one before," said Bradley. "That was horrible."

"I reckon they're looking for Sirius Black," said Leo as she sat up normally again, rubbing her arms briskly to get rid of the chill. Auriga had read in the paper about Sirius Black's escape, but they had given it little thought, he wouldn't come to a place like Skye.

"Are you sure you're okay Auriga?" Cassie said worriedly.

"Oh sure…you guys didn't hear…laughing, did you?"

They all shook their heads, looking at her like she was crazy.

"Not much to laugh about with dementors," offered Leo.

"Yeah," she tried to smile like it was a joke. "Aren't we getting close? Maybe we should get our robes on and everything," she suggested, to deflect attention from herself, and they all agreed.

It was actually only a short while until they pulled into Hogsmeade Station, and she spilled off the train with the other students. A huge man was calling for first years, and even Leo looked a little alarmed beneath the false bravado. They split into boats under the direction of the huge man, and shivered along the lake until they got their first view of Hogwarts Castle, which was enough to make them forget about the cold for just a moment.

They climbed out of the boats on the other side huddling in a little group and watching the older students, who were climbing out of carriages pulled by horrible black skeletal horses.

"You _fainted_ Potter?" called one boy, a boy with white-blond hair, as he stepped out of the carriage. "Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually _fainted_?"

"Shove off, Malfoy," said another boy, with bright red hair.

Auriga felt herself blush, as she had nearly fainted as well. Leo gave her a friendly look. "Don't worry about it, I was totally scared too."

"Thanks."

They were all hustled inside, and then left to wait in a large room while the rest of the school went into the dinner.

"Damon wouldn't tell me what the sorting was like," muttered Cassie nervously.

"I'm not worried," said Leo with an expression that belied the confidence in his voice.

Auriga felt like her stomach dropped when she stepped into the Great Hall, she had never seen any place so huge or so beautiful, with so many people. And sitting in a place of honor at the front of the hall, on an old wooden stool, the most ragged hat she had ever seen. She chanced a look at Cassie, who shrugged, but a second later the hat actually started to _sing_. Singing a song about the different qualities that the four Hogwarts houses valued. Auriga didn't feel like she fit in any one of them, but she was glad that they didn't have to do anything except try on the hat.

The first little girl (Ainseley, Nancy) looked positively green as she stepped up to the stool, but only seconds later the hat declared her a Hufflepuff. It looked simple enough. They made their way through the alphabet, and she noticed it took longer for some people than others. Bradley, from the train, was sorted into Ravenclaw, and she was surprised when they got to "H" and Leo gave her a little salute and said "you're next Hunter" before going up and putting on the hat. It seemed to take a few minutes, before the hat called "Slytherin!" He looked pleased as he handed the hat off to her.

She tried to ignore the entire hall watching her, and instead paid attention to the hat which spoke in her ear in a tiny, hat-like voice.

"_Hm, interesting…" said the little voice in her head. "Clever, certainly, and not easily frightened either. But what I really see in you is power. Great power, that might someday become great restlessness…you will not be easily satisfied. You can be great, and Slytherin will help you to greatness…_

Slytherin? Auriga didn't think she was a bit cunning or ambitious.

"_You're more like her than you know now, my girl. But eventually you'll realize it. Yes, you belong in….SLYTHERIN!"_

The Slytherins cheered, while she took off the hat and stumbled over to the Slytherin table, where she thankfully took the seat next to Leo, glad to have one person she knew. Several of the Slytherins shook her hand or patted her on the back.

She wondered to herself about what the hat had said. More like who? It must be her mother. Her mother had died when she was not quite a year old, the result of a muggle car accident that was really no one's fault. Auriga had sometimes wondered about her, for certainly she didn't look a thing like her father and wondered if she looked like her mother, but he did not keep any pictures of her about, and he almost never talked about her. Perhaps, Auriga thought, she had been in Slytherin. The idea that she might have something in common with her mother pleased her.

Leo prodded her. "Look, Cassie's getting sorted."

Cassie sat under the hat for nearly a minute before it declared her a Slytherin, and she looked relieved as she took that hat off. Auriga was thrilled too, because she liked both Cassie and Leo, and had hoped to be in the same house as them, even if it wasn't the house she'd expected.

Cassie was the last one to be sorted, and Professor McGonagall took the hat away while the headmaster stood. Auriga had been interested to see him, because she knew her father had great respect for him, and after all, he was quite famous.

He told them that the dementors would be at Hogwarts until Sirius Black was caught, and she could not avoid a small shiver…she certainly didn't want to run into one again, but it was easy enough to forget as he finished with the announcements and the feast began.

When the meal was finished, the Slytherin prefect gathered them all together to show them how to get to the common room. She was just going out the door with the others when someone grabbed her shoulder, hard. She turned to find a tall man all in black scowling at her. She knew he was a Professor, because she'd seen him at the head table, but she hadn't thought to ask any of the older students which professors were which.

"You, what's your name?" he asked her abruptly.

"Auriga Hunter, Sir," she answered, wondering what she could have done to be in trouble already.

"Hunter?" he repeated. "Where are you from?"

"Scotland, Sir. The Isle of Skye."

He released the vice-grip on her shoulder. "All right, go along Miss Hunter. You too," he added to Leo, who had paused when he'd stopped her.

She hurried to catch up with the other first years, wondering what the entire exchange meant. She was glad she wasn't in trouble, but she got the definite feeling that the man didn't like her.


	5. Slytherin Living

**Chapter 4- Slytherin Living**

_Dear Dad,_

_We arrived safely at Hogwarts. The ride was fun except when they had Dementors search the train for Sirius Black. The feast was really good and I was sorted into Slytherin, which seems pretty cool. There are two other first years, Cassie and Leo, in my house who are really nice, I met them on the train._

_Oops, I better go, I have to get to my first class. Write back soon, I hope Xanthe can find the way. I miss you._

_Love, _

_Auriga_

_p.s. I was wondering, what house was Mum in at Hogwarts?_

Colin Hunter sat with a cup of tea untouched next to his hand, lost in thought. He had been pleased when Auriga's letter had arrived, but surprised by the contents. Slytherin? He thought he knew his daughter well, and he had guessed she would be in Ravenclaw, or perhaps Gryffindor if that mischievous streak won out, but he had never thought of her as a Slytherin. She was clever enough, but far too innocent and naïve to be cunning, and not overly ambitious.

He had been careful not to talk up any of the houses over the others, and so she seemed happy enough about the choice. He reached for a quill to write back, deciding that there was nothing to do but trust the sorting hat.

* * *

"Hey, look, that boy who just came in, by that tell red-haired kid? That's Harry Potter," whispered a boy next to Auriga at breakfast the next morning. She watched Harry, who looked surprisingly normal, walk to the Gryffindor table with his friends. As he passed, a boy near the end of the Slytherin table did an overdone impression of a swooning fit, to the laughter of his friends. 

"Potter! The Dementors are coming, Potter," a girl called after him, but he ignored them.

"That's Draco Malfoy," continued the boy next to her, who was also a first year but seemed to be an extraordinarily well-informed one. "And that girl is Pansy Parkinson."

Auriga felt like she would never be able to remember everything, and she hadn't even had any classes yet. She and Cassie had gotten lost just getting the Great Hall for breakfast, until an annoyed-looking Ravenclaw had finally turned them in the right direction.

She had gotten to meet the other girls in her dormitory, besides Cassie, only briefly the night before, but it seemed they would all be able to live together easily enough. Cecilia Warrington was from Cornwall, and had dirty blond hair and watery blue eyes behind wire glasses that she was constantly pushing up. Melissa Montague was a square, heavy girl who looked strong enough to wrestle a troll, and probably would, given the chance. Rounding out the dormitory was Laura Summers, who had looked at them all a bit nervously, mumbled that _everyone_ in her family had been in Ravenclaw, and then quickly gone to bed.

"Who's that teacher dressed in all black?" she asked the boy, since he seemed so inclined to be helpful.

"That's Professor Snape. He's the head of Slytherin House," the boy replied, as though she ought to know that.

Great, thought Auriga. For absolutely no logical reason, the Head of her house didn't like her.

* * *

The first week of classes passed so quickly that Auriga hardly had time to catch her breath. She distinguished herself in transfiguration by being the first one to turn her matchstick into a needle, but embarrassed herself in potions by not concentrating and upsetting her cauldron. Who could concentrate when Professor Snape kept staring at her as though she presented a difficult problem? She thought Professor Lupin, who taught them Defense Against the Dark Arts, was the nicest professor she had ever met. Some of the older Slytherins had made fun of him because his robes were so old and patched, but by the first week he had won over all the first years. 

By a few weeks later, she had decided that she quite liked Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and would have liked potions if it weren't for Snape staring at her strangely all the time. She wasn't good at charms; she tended to use too much power and ended up setting things on fire or doing nothing at all. Flitwick was always telling her that she needed to learn control, but she couldn't seem to. Astronomy amused her, learning the other constellations other than her own name.

She was getting comfortable in Slytherin as well, although the common room had at first seemed a little bit cold and dark, she found that once she was used to it seemed perfectly normal and even nice to be among her classmates. While there were a few older Slytherins who they quickly learned to stay clear from, she found they were not nearly as "evil" as the other houses liked to think. It was just another common room, where people studied and talked and played games.

She had always liked exploding snap but Leo had started teaching both she and Cassie wizarding chess. Cassie was catching on easily, but Auriga found herself losing to Leo in very few moves. About three weeks into the term they were sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the fire, and a drawling voice interrupted her move.

"If you do that, he'll have you in checkmate in two moves. Aren't you looking?"

The boy who had spoken was Draco Malfoy. He was popular in Slytherin, and either popular or feared among the rest of the school. She had never spoken to him before, and he had never taken any notice of her, but she heard enough to know a good deal about him. His father was Lucius Malfoy, and his family was very powerful in the wizarding world, as he lost no opportunity to remind people. He was generally thought of as clever enough, if he wanted to be, but lazy, relying on his sycophants to do everything for him. She thought he was a bit too impressed with himself, but she wasn't silly enough to say that. Instead she examined the black pawn she had her hand on, trying to see what moves he was talking about that would put her in checkmate.

She expected it was merely a passing comment, and she was surprised when he knelt down next to her and coached her through the rest of the game, just with the occasional "no" or nod. While it wasn't necessarily fair, Leo wasn't stupid enough to argue with a third year. She still lost, but it was the longest she'd ever held out against Leo.

After that, Malfoy began to take notice of her, and the rest of his clique followed suit. At least, as much as any third year noticed a first year, which meant he would occasionally acknowledge her in the common room or at meals, and Auriga quickly found that her reputation in Slytherin improved considerably because of it.

* * *

_Dear Auriga,_

_Well done, Slytherin is a fine house and has produced many accomplished witches and wizards. Your mother was in Gryffindor, but houses are not based on blood but rather personality, and I'm sure you will make me very proud in Slytherin. I am glad to hear that you are making friends, although you have always done so easily._

_I read in the newspaper that they have brought Dementors to guard Hogwarts until Sirius Black is captured. I hope you will be careful of them, as they are very dangerous. I know you are a sensible girl, but Dementors should be taken seriously._

_The house is very quiet now that you are gone, but as Samhain approaches we are as busy as usual. Mrs. MacKay asked after you, and said to give you her love._

_Behave yourself, and mind your classes, and all those other things your father is supposed to say. And don't forget to write._

_Much love,_

_Dad_

"Who's that from?" Cassie asked as she folded up the letter and put it in her pocket.

"Just my Dad. He's pleased at my being in Slytherin."

"Well why wouldn't he be?" said Leo, coming up behind them. "My parents expected it. We better go. Flying lessons start today, remember?"

He was practically hopping with excitement, probably looking forward to show off, because he claimed that he had been flying for years, and would have tried for the Quidditch team if only first years were allowed. Cassie grimaced.

"Damon says I'll probably fall off and humiliate myself, and it's not so unlikely. I hate flying, I'm not a bit good at it."

Auriga had done very little flying. Her father had an old broom, not a very fancy one, and she had tried it once without his permission when she was seven, which had resulted in a very nasty fall and scraped up knees and elbows. She got no sympathy either, since he said she ought to have known better. One of her neighbors, a boy called Hamish who she had sometimes played with, had a broom that he let her ride sometimes, but his father had charmed it so that it went no higher than three feet.

They hurried outside, where a group of students, both Slytherins and Gryffindors, had already gathered around broomsticks lying in neat rows on the ground. Most of them looked rather battered, but when a Gryffindor commented on that Leo replied "I'm sure they'll get a Firebolt for you, Kirke."

"Shove off, Harper."

Before they could get into a real argument, Madame Hooch arrived and ordered them to all stand by a broomstick.

"Now hold your hand over your broom, and say up," She instructed.

There was a chorus of "Up!" and Auriga was surprised, so surprised that it almost knocked her down, when the broom jumped into her hand.

Following the instructions, they all learned how to mount their brooms, and then kicked off and rose a few feet into the air until she told them all to come back down. Auriga found it all surprisingly easy, and indeed Madam Hooch said "Very good, Hunter!" before going to see to a Gryffindor boy who hit the ground with a resounding thud.

She discovered that she actually liked flying, and wondered if her father might get her a broom when she went home for next summer.

"Hey Hunter, Harper says you're not a bad flyer," said Malfoy when they were at dinner that night.

She shrugged. "Not that we did anything that hard, going up and down a few feet."

"You should think about going out for Quidditch next year," he said. "I'll give you some pointers sometime."

"Sure. Thanks."

* * *

They'd had a transfiguration lesson on turning buttons into beetles, and she had been so busy trying to keep her beetle from attacking Cassie's (which didn't have any legs) she had missed what reading they were supposed to do. Cassie didn't know either, so when her last class ended she headed down to McGonagall's classroom to ask. The door to the office was slightly ajar but when she went to push it open she heard a voice that made her pause. Professor Snape. She turned to go, because she didn't really want to talk to Professor McGonagall with him there, she would come back, but she heard something that made her stop- her own name. 

"The Hunter girl, in your house, she has quite a flair. She's at the head of my class," McGonagall was saying. Auriga flushed and smiled, she knew she was doing well at Transfiguration, but she hadn't known she was the best in the class.

"She doesn't display any talent whatsoever at potions," Snape replied.

_How could I with you glaring at me the whole time_, she thought.

"Doesn't she seem…familiar to you?" he went on.

There was a pause, and then Professor McGonagall answered stiffly. "Not in the slightest."

"You're lying," Snape said in his usual mocking voice, apparently not the slightest bit intimidated by McGonagall. "You know as well as I do that girl looks like a Black. In particular, she's the absolute image of Bellatrix when she started school."

"I see no such resemblance," McGonagall said sharply. "Really Severus, what a thing to say about a child."

Sharp footsteps were coming toward the door, and she realized she was about to be discovered and hurried down the hall as quietly as she could. As soon as she was out of sight of McGonagall's office, she sat down on the foot of one of the staircases (which wasn't moving just then, luckily) to consider what she had heard. Was that the reason Professor Snape looked at her so strangely? Because she reminded him of someone, and judging by the tone of his voice, someone he didn't like much.

She wondered about the woman she looked like. Whoever she was, she mustn't be very interesting looking, for there was nothing at all out of the ordinary about the way Auriga looked. It didn't matter really, but she though again what Professor Snape had said- "that girl looks like a Black."

Black?

Like Sirius Black?

* * *

_Note: Just wanted to point out that making Draco take an interest in her is not to set up a romance between them. They're first cousins technically, and that would be creepy._


	6. Holiday Spirit

**Chapter 5- Holiday Spirit**

"I wish you guys could come stay for the holidays," Cassie said, for the hundredth time, as the train flashed through London towards Kings Cross. "Two weeks with only Damon and my parents."

Auriga would have liked to visit Cassie's home in London, but she knew her father wouldn't like it since the Christmas holidays were only two weeks. She was looking forward to seeing him, but she was worried she might find home a little boring after Hogwarts.

The train drew into the station, where the platform was full of waiting parents; Auriga spotted her father among them. Students crowded off the train.

"Dad!" she hurried up to hug him, and then turned. "These are my friends Cassie, and Leo."

"Nice to meet you both," he said.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Hunter. There's my Mum and Dad, I better go. Happy Christmas Auriga."

"You too."

"Yep, there's my Dad," Leo said. "Nice meeting you Sir. Have a good holiday Auriga."

"Bye Leo."

"They seem nice," her father said as they turned to go.

"They are. Do you think maybe for the summer holidays they could visit?"

"We'll see when summer comes along, but I see no reason why not."

She was so busy talking that she almost ran into someone, and then realized it was Draco, talking to a pale blond woman who would only be his mother, they looked so alike.

"Oh! Sorry Draco."

"That's all right," he replied. "Merry Christmas."

"Thanks, you too."

"Mother, this is Au…Mother?"

His mother, who was quite pretty, was standing completely frozen, wide gray eyes fixed an Auriga. She put a hand on Draco's shoulder absently, as though for support. Auriga wondered if she was going to faint.

"Mother?" Draco said again, but she didn't even look at him, she continued to stare at Auriga.

"Ma'am? Are you all right?" Auriga's father asked, now sounding concerned.

"What's your name, child?" the woman finally asked, her voice faint.

"Auriga Hunter, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Auriga?" She repeated. "The Charioteer?"

"Yes Ma'am." Auriga smiled, since so few people knew where her name came from.

"Where do you come from?"

"We're from Scotland," Auriga's father broke in, and then put a hand on her shoulder. "And we really must be going. Nice meeting you both. Come along Auriga."

As he hustled her away, she heard Draco say "Mother, are you _quite_ all right?"

"That was very odd," she said as soon as they were out of hearing range.

"Yes, do hurry along Auriga, we're not the only ones taking the Knight Bus."

* * *

"Narcissa, please stop pacing." 

She sighed, stopped pacing as Lucius had requested, but crossed her arms and stared into the fire distractedly.

"You're upsetting yourself over nothing," he said patiently.

"Lucius, if you had only seen this girl."

She had grilled Draco for everything he knew about the girl, but he said he wouldn't pay much attention to a younger student. He knew only her name, that she was in Slytherin, and that she was a lousy chess player.

"Darling, there are lots of little girls with dark hair and grey eyes. And you're working from a memory twenty years old. I couldn't remember for my life what Bella looked like at eleven."

"She's my sister Lucius. I remember."

"Then it's a coincidence, my dear."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Perhaps I should speak to Bella, just…"

She trailed off as he looked at her over his glasses, his expression serious.

"Narcissa, after the Dark Lord fell we agreed, for Draco's future, that we must appear to have given up the Dark Arts, and to disassociate ourselves with those convicted. Bellatrix went to Azkaban still declaring her loyalty to him. I know you miss her, but it would look bad."

"Yes Lucius, you're right."

* * *

"Auriga, I'm going to Portree to get some things, but I'll be back before dinner." 

She looked up from where she was lying on her bed, reading "Teen Witch" magazine.

"Okay."

"Calum is watching the hotel, but you be sure to help him if it gets busy."

"Yes, Dad."

"And remember, no magic."

"I _know_, Dad," she rolled her eyes.

"Just doing my job."

She waited until she heard the "pop" of him apparating from the hall, and then tossed aside her magazine and jumped up. If he was going to be gone until dinner, it would be a perfect time to look for her Christmas presents. She knew it was rather cheating, but she was dying to know if he'd gotten her the broom she'd asked for. She didn't hope for a fancy one like a firebolt, but she thought he might get her a Cleansweep. While he seemed strict, he often did spoil her.

She tried the most obvious places first, under the bed, and his closet, and found no broom, but in his closet she did see something that caught her eye. High up on a top shelf, there was an old cardboard box that was labeled "Janet"- her mother.

Curiosity about the box got in the way of her curiosity about her Christmas presents, so she got a chair and lifted it down. It was full of old wizarding photographs of her mother- her parents wedding, holding Auriga as a baby, and as a toddler, holding her hands as she learned to walk. Her mother was pretty and very young-looking, with long blond hair and china blue eyes, and in the pictures she smiled and laughed often. She looked nice, but she also looked nothing like Auriga.

* * *

The next-door neighbor Mrs. MacKay had sometimes watched Auriga when she was little. She was a witch as well, which was not so unusual on Skye, where there was a great deal of magic. Auriga had always liked staying there, because Mrs. MacKay gave her sweets and was flexible on her bedtimes. Her father said Mrs. MacKay was a terrible gossip and never forgot a thing, and while he didn't mean it as a compliment, Auriga felt it was in her favor as she knocked on Mrs. MacKay's door. 

"Oh, Auriga! How lovely to see you Dear, you must be home on holiday."

"Yes Ma'am. Here, I brought your mail, the postman gave it to us by mistake."

She had actually sneaked it out of his cart when he wasn't looking, but she's needed a reason to come by.

"Thank you Dear. Now don't run off, you really must come in and have a cup of tea, I want to hear all about Hogwarts."

Auriga had been counting on that.

"Mrs. MacKay, do you remember my mother?" she asked once they were seated at the table with their tea.

Mrs. MacKay looked at her shrewdly. "Aye, that I do. She was a pretty thing."

"I don't look at all like her."

"No, I suppose you take after someone else. You're pretty enough too, Love."

"Do you remember when I was born?"

If she wasn't mistaken, Mrs. MacKay looked just a little uncomfortable.

"Aye, I do. Your parents were terribly excited."

"Was I born at a hospital?"

"Oh, er…well Auriga dear I'm not family, I don't know all the circumstances," she said awkwardly, and then patted Auriga's hand. "Now Darling, tell me all about school."

* * *

"Auriga, is something wrong?" her father asked. She looked up from her dinner in confusion. 

"What?"

"You're very quiet. I thought you'd have been thrilled to get that broom you wanted."

"Oh, I am!" she insisted quickly. "I love it Dad, it's perfect. A Comet Two-Sixty is a brilliant broom, I'm definitely going to try out for Quidditch next year, I'm really good at flying Draco says. Although there aren't any girls on the Slytherin team, that might be a bit odd. But perhaps next year there will be.."

She kept up the chatter for her father's sake, because that was how he was used to her acting, but it was half-hearted, and she wanted to shake off her apathetic mood, but she couldn't. She ought to have been excited that they had a lovely Christmas and she had gotten exactly what she wanted, but she was distracted. She hadn't been sleeping well since she got home, and she was getting more tired and restless as the holidays wore on.

Her Dad continued to cast her worried looks as the days wore on. She spent as much time as she could trying the new broomstick, for she couldn't take it back to school with her.

The night before she was supposed to go back to Hogwarts she felt nothing but relief, followed by guilt, because she had always been happy living there and didn't think she should feel so desperate to get away. She slept fitfully, and fell into a dream of cold and darkness, where she couldn't seen anything and heard only people crying out in the distance, and the same mad laughter she heard when the Dementor had come near her.

She jerked awake, sitting up suddenly, sweating and breathing hard. Although she hadn't been able to see anything in the dream, it had been strangely vivid.

"Auriga, are you all right?" her father spoke her name from the doorway, a beam of light coming into her room from the hallway. She looked at him, confused.

"You screamed," he said.

"Oh…I was having a dream. I'm okay."

He turned on a light with a wave of his wand. "Are you sure? What kind of dream?"

In the sudden light, the darkness of the dream faded, and she felt rather foolish that she couldn't even really say what was so scary about it.

"It was nothing. Just…weird."

"I'm worried about you, Auriga. These nightmares are happening a lot?"

"No, not really," she insisted. "I'm fine, really."

He looked skeptical, but nodded and turned off the light. "Try to get some sleep."

* * *

"A Comet Two Sixty?" Leo nodded. "That's a pretty good broom. That's what the Ravenclaw team rides. Of course, not a Firebolt." 

"But nobody at Hogwarts will have a Firebolt anyway," Cassie pointed out, as they walked to the train. Auriga turned and waved at her Dad one more time.

"Nobody besides Harry Potter," said Draco's voice bitterly behind her. "Apparently he got a Firebolt for Christmas. Probably from Dumbledore, showing his usual disgusting favoritism."

"Draco, that's enough," said the man with him, apparently his father who he was so fond if invoking. "You'd best get on the train."

They started toward the train, when suddenly Draco's father grabbed her arm, frightening her, and looked at her closely.

"Sir?"

He released her quickly. "I'm sorry, you look like someone I used to know."


	7. Pictures

**Chapter 7- Pictures**

"I hate astronomy essays," Leo said vehemently, dumping out his bag on the library table she was sitting at. She pulled back her essay to save it from the avalanche of books and quills. A copy of _The Daily Prophet_ tumbled out as well, and caught her eye. The mug shot of Sirius Black was on the front page again, accompanied by an article about a supposed sighting of him in Ealing. The Ministry, and the paper, didn't seem to be giving it much credit. In fact the Auror who was investigating it commented that after consuming an entire bottle of Ogden's in a few hours, he'd see Sirius Black looking in his windows too.

Auriga ignored the article and instead looked at the picture more closely than she ever had, despite the fact that it was posted everywhere. It had simply become part of the scenery. Now she wondered if she had anything in common with him that would make Snape say she looked like a Black. Certainly Azkaban had not been kind to him, and all she could tell was that she also had dark hair, and possibly similarly colored eyes, but lots of girls had dark hair and grey eyes.

Leo leaned across the table conversationally. "We call it a newspaper."

She looked up. "Huh?"

"Well, you've been staring at the paper for five minutes like you're confused."

"Just keeping up on the news."

"Sure. Are you sure you're all right?"

"What do you mean?"

He looked serious for a moment. "You've been kind of out of it ever since we got back from holidays. Like something's bothering you."

She pushed the paper away, closing the cover of his potions book over the picture. "Really?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, I'm not that perceptive, but Cassie says you're upset and I should ask you about it. Not that I want to talk about your feelings and crap, but…well?"

"There's nothing wrong. The holiday was just weird."

"I thought it was good?"

"Well, yes. There was nothing bad, and it was good to see my Dad and everyone, and I got everything I wanted for Christmas…"

"Then?"

"It was just weird. I didn't really feel like I belonged there. I reckon I'm just used to Hogwarts."

"Okay…" he shook his head like he didn't believe her, but he let it go.

* * *

Narcissa finally found the box in the bottom drawer of her desk. She had very few pictures of their childhood. Not that the Blacks had not tried to capture every moment of their daughters' pampered existence, but after Andromeda left Bella had gone into a rage and destroyed every picture that she was in, which was most of them. Narcissa had only managed to save a few that Bellatrix had missed, and kept them hidden away. Now she drew them out with a nostalgic smile. 

She flipped through them until she found one at about the right age. She smiled at her own image, long blond hair that had been her mother's pride and joy brushed to a shine. Andromeda had been caught by surprise by the camera, just glancing up from a book with a shy smile. But it was Bella she had needed to see, not quite twelve, staring into the camera boldly, looking irritated at the intrusion of the photographer into their world, but not without that spark of humor that she never quite lost no matter how far she got into the darkness.

Narcissa studied the photo for a moment, confirming what she had already known, that the little girl at school with Draco bore a striking resemblance to Bella, so much a resemblance that she couldn't believe what Lucius kept saying- that it was merely a coincidence. The girl's appearance, and the keeping with the tradition of celestial names that the Blacks kept up, it was like some sort of sick joke. A sick joke, or some sort of horrible mistake.

Narcissa knew there was no way her sister could have had a child she didn't know about. Bellatrix and Rodolphus had thought bloodlines of the greatest importance, and certainly would not a let a child of theirs be raised by anyone outside the family. Draco had not been able to tell her when the girl's birthday was, but if she was two years behind him in school she could only have been born after her sister was in Azkaban. And that decided it, the child couldn't possibly be Bella's. So how did she explain the strikingly similar appearance? The Blacks were related to most of the old families in the wizarding world, it wasn't out of the question that the child was distantly related to them, and so perhaps it was just the vagaries of genetics? But Draco had said the girl's family name was Hunter, and she knew nothing of such a family.

Lucius came in, and saw the picture in her hand, and sighed. He had told her to forget the whole thing, but he had seen the girl when he took Draco to King's Cross at the end of the winter holiday, and he had agreed the resemblance was shocking. But then he had said again it was coincidence.

"You know, logically, that child is no relation to Bellatrix?" he said now irritably. "There is no way. The girl was born after your sister was imprisoned…and that is unlikely. The conditions there are not conducive to…romance."

"Oh, I know…" she sighed.

"Let it go, my Dear."

But she couldn't.

* * *

Auriga came into the common room, and saw Leo and Cassie in deep conversation on one of the leather couches facing the fireplace. She walked over and dropped her bag, and flopped down with them, and they both suddenly went silent. She looked at them, both looked guilty and as though they were desperately thinking of something to say. 

"Um…so interesting herbology class today, wasn't it?" Leo said inanely.

They had obviously been talking about her. She crossed her arms.

"What's going on?"

"Going on?" Cassie echoed innocently.

She sighed. "You two appeared to be having a pretty interesting conversation, and as soon as I came up you went silent, and then starting babbling about herbology being interesting? Come on, what were you talking about?"

They exchanged a glance, and then Cassie shrugged, "Show her, it's no big deal, just a weird coincidence…"

Leo pulled a gold stamped book out of his school bag. He handed it over to her and she saw it was an old Hogwarts yearbook, the school's crest embossed into the front.

"Ooookay?" she said.

"I found it in the library. It's the year my Dad graduated, so I was looking for his picture," Cassie explained. He opened the book to a page he had marked by turning down the corner, and laid it open on the couch next to Auriga.

It took her only a second to pick out what had caught their attention. It was a candid photograph of a dueling club meeting, according to the caption, and the moving picture was a chaos of students of all ages disarming each other. But one of the clearest subjects in the foreground of the picture was a girl of about thirteen, who disarmed her partner easily, and then laughed.

She looked so like Auriga she might have been looking in a mirror.

"I…who…" she hesitated, and then took a deep breath. "Her name is Black, isn't it?"

Their eyes went wide. Cassie nodded slowly. "We thought it was pretty weird, but that picture didn't have her name, so we looked in other yearbooks. Her name was Bellatrix Black. How did you know? Do you know her?"

Auriga shook her head. "No but someone said once I looked like a Black."

"The Blacks are an old wizarding family, you know," Leo said. "Are you related to them?"

She shook her head. "We can't be. I mean, my family is pureblood, but we're not a very old family, and not rich like that. It doesn't make sense."

"Well, it's probably just coincidence, right?" Cassie said comfortingly. "I mean it's not as though you're odd-looking, lots of people look a bit like you, right?"

Auriga managed a vague smile. "Glad to hear I'm not odd-looking."

"This is dumb anyway, we shouldn't have even mentioned it," Cassie went on, reaching for the book, giving Leo a stern look.

"I'll take that back to the library," Auriga said quickly, putting the old yearbook in her bag.

"Anyway, enough about silly old books, I wanted your help on my transfiguration essay," Cassie said firmly, and Auriga was relieved to pull out her homework and change the subject.

* * *

"Done!" Cassie put the last period on her homework with a florish, and slammed her book shut thankfully. "I'm going up to bed. You coming Auriga?" 

Under their table, she felt Leo step on her foot, hard. She winced slightly and gave him a dirty look. "I'll be up in a few, I just want to finish these questions for charms. I need all the extra points I can get in there."

"Okay," she headed up the stairs, and Auriga turned to glare at Leo.

"You practically broke my toe."

"Sorry, but I wanted to talk to you alone," he said, glancing around the common room. It was mostly empty aside from a few older students studying late.

"What?"

"Well, look…I don't want to make you mad, or freak you out, but I was thinking about that picture, and…Auriga, how much do you know about the war with Voldemort?"

She shrugged. "Not very much. It was mostly over by the time we were born, and my Dad doesn't really talk about it. There wasn't any real violence around where my parents lived anyway, it's so out of the way."

"Right. Well…" he bit his lip and looked past her into the fire for a moment. "My parents were living in London, and they talk a fair amount about it. About You-Know-Who and stuff. And well…" he trailed off again.

"Just spit it out Leo," she said impatiently.

"That woman, Bellatrix Black…well, her married name was Lestrange. She was one of his supporters, You-Know-Who's I mean. She's….she's bad Auriga. I mean like killing people kind of bad. She's serving a life sentence in Azkaban."

* * *

Narcissa was irritated that it hadn't occurred to her sooner. She sat up in bed one night with a startling thought, and then it all fell into place. It was so obvious, it was exactly the sort of thing she would do, blood-traitor that she was. 

It was time to pay Andromeda a little visit.


	8. Conversations

**Chapter 8- Conversations**

Married or not, Andromeda had been born a Black, and Narcissa was reminded of that the next day. When Andromeda opened the door and found her younger sister on her doorstep, it took her only a split second to school her expression from shock to polite annoyance. Whether Andromeda knew it or not, it was an expression taken directly from their mother, who could communicate any number of nasty things with a mere look.

"Hello Andromeda," she said politely. Not Andy any longer, they had gone too far for such little informalities.

"Narcissa. This is a…surprise. What can I do for you?"

Narcissa had come by in the early evening in the hope that she would find Andromeda alone. She didn't need the husband running interference, and she guessed she had…aside from the WWN playing quietly in the background, the house was quiet.

"May I come in?"

A little warily, Andromeda stepped back, playing along with the ultra-polite charade and nodded, "Of course. Please come in."

Despite herself, Narcissa looked around with interest…she had never been inside Andromeda's home, and she was surprised to find it was nice. Although she knew it wasn't true, she had never really been able to shake her childhood idea that muggles and muggle-borns all lived in poverty.

"I would offer you tea, but I'm afraid I'd only just gotten home."

"Oh, that's quite all right…"

It was Andromeda who lost patience first. "What are you doing here Narcissa? After all these years I hardly think you merely wanted to drop by and say hello."

"I wanted to speak to you about something."

""I'm listening," said Andromeda shortly, although her expression suggested Narcissa had better talk quickly.

"Draco was home for the holidays," Narcissa began. "I went to Kings Cross to meet the train, and I saw the strangest thing. There was a little girl…a first year…who was the image of Bella at that age. I nearly fainted to see her."

Narcissa did not really expect Andromeda to tell her anything…if she knew who the girl was it had been kept a secret this long, she really just wanted to see if Andromeda knew anything, and she watched her sister's face carefully as she said this. There it was, hardly a flicker in her eyes, Andromeda had always been good at concealing her feelings, but not from her sisters- Narcissa saw she knew something.

"You've broken twenty years of silence to tell me there's a girl at Hogwarts who looks like Bella? Considering the Blacks are one of the most inbred families in England, you'll excuse me if I can't muster up a great deal of shock."

"No, I don't imagine you'd be shocked, since I think you know who she is."

"Me? I've had nothing to do with Hogwarts since Nymphadora graduated, why should I care what a schoolgirl looks like?"

"Is she a Black?"

"How in the world should I know, I've never seen the child. And even if she was, you'll recall I'm the one who was disowned twenty years ago. Why in the world would you ask me? I'm certainly not the keeper of Black family secrets."

* * *

Narcissa left none the wiser, but Andromeda was shaken. She knew there were only a handful of people who knew the truth about Auriga, but when she had planned to keep the child safe she had not counted on the distinctive family resemblance among the Black family. Indeed, it had been worrying her since she'd seen the girl the previous summer at Madam Malkin's- she couldn't be the only one to notice it, and now it seemed she wasn't, it had only taken Narcissa seeing the child among a crowd of other Hogwarts students to make exactly the same comparison.

Narcissa hadn't yet made the obvious connection to Bellatrix, it hadn't occurred to her that a child could have been born after Bella went to Azkaban. She seemed to think they ought to be worried the child was an illegitimate heir who might trouble them, some by blow of Sirius's playboy past or one of Regulus's brief, angst-filled schoolboy romances. But Narcissa was not a fool, and she was not one to let an idea go once she'd gotten it in her head. She would pursue this, and Andromeda knew that even the best-constructed lie had holes.

* * *

"Wake up! Cass, Auriga, c'mon!" Leo's voice was punctuated by a pillow thrown by Cassie's brother Damon, and Auriga sat up, fighting through the haze of sleep to find them jostling each other in the doorway to Cassie's room, where she was sleeping. "Your Mum says to get up or you won't have time for breakfast before the portkey goes!"

Cassie turned away resolutely and grumbled "Stupid quidditch," but Auriga was actually very excited for the Quidditch World Cup, and it had taken a fair amount of begging her Dad to let her go with the Vaiseys when Cassie had invited both her and Leo. Still, as she had told him, twelve was quite old enough to go stay with one's friend for a few days, and finally she'd worn him down by begging and moping around the house. She figured if she hoped to try out for the Slytherin Quidditch team, she ought to see some really top-notch flying, and she'd never seen a professional Quidditch game.

They took one of many scheduled portkeys set up in London, and when they arrived at the Quidditch stadium Auriga had to try very hard to not act impressed, as clearly for Cassie and Leo this was nothing, but Auriga had never imagined there were so many witches and wizards in the world. She'd always thought them a rather small community, but it seemed like millions of people milled around among the campgrounds surrounding the pitch.

"I wish we could stay and camp out," Damon whined, and although she would never say it for fear of being rude when Mr. And Mrs. Vaisey had been nice enough to ask her, Auriga wished the same thing. Mrs. Vaisey had said she did not care for "roughing it" and they had arranged a portkey home when the match was over, whenever that was.

"Don't be silly Damon, your father has to get back to work, and we can't waste any time playing at camping if the match goes on for days."

The idea of the match going on for days cheered them all (except Cassie), and as they made their way through one of the campgrounds, it was far too interesting to worry about later. They sometimes had foreign witches and wizards come to stay on Skye, but never so many and such a wide range, as the babble of foreign voices came from all around them and various brightly colored flags whipped in the breeze.

"Look, there's a chap selling souvenirs!" Leo exclaimed, and they all bought Ireland flags (since England had been eliminated early on, they decided to support Ireland) and went on to their seats, which were quite good.

"Oy, there's a chap selling butterbeer, I could do with that!" said Leo as soon as they were settled. "Oy! Hey! Butterbeer Man!"

Not hearing him, the man started away, and Auriga, who was sitting on the end and would quite like a butterbeer as well, hopped up to go after him. "I'll catch him, we have loads of time before the match starts."

She followed the butterbeer man down the long stadium steps, until he disappeared into one of the passageways that led in and out of the stadium, " Sir, wait!"

He finally heard her, and stopped with a friendly smile. "Sorry there young Miss, I didn't hear you. What can I get for you?"

"Four, please."

She turned to go back, trying to balance four butterbeers, and very nearly ran into someone, who said, "Hello, Auriga."

She was frightened for a moment, but then recognized the woman.

"Oh Draco's mum…I mean Mrs. Malfoy. Hello."

"How nice to see you again, Dear," Mrs. Malfoy said, and while Auriga thought it odd that Mrs. Malfoy should care at all if she saw her, she assumed she was being polite.

"Yes Ma'am. Is Draco here?"

"Of course, he'd hardly miss the Quidditch World Cup, he just saw some kids he knew from Hogwarts. Are you here with your parents?"

"Oh, no Ma'am, I came with my friend, her Dad took extra tickets."

"The man you were with at the train station, that was your father?"

It seemed an odd question. "Er, yes Ma'am."

"And your mother?"

Auriga was starting to be a bit annoyed at these personal questions from a woman who was nothing more to her then the mother of a school acquaintance. "She died," she answered shortly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Dear. You must miss her."

"It was when I was a baby. I don't really remember her. I should…um…be getting back to my seat…" she said quickly, unnerved by the way Mrs. Malfoy stared at her.

Luckily, she was saved by Draco, as he came upon them. "Mother, what are you- Oh, hello Auriga. Seems everyone is here. We'd better get on to our seats. Where's yours, Auriga?"

"Oh, back this way."

"Oh, we're up here. Catch you back at school, if not later."

She escaped back to their seats, where Leo muttered "Took you long enough, did you brew and bottle it yourself or something?"

She made a slightly rude reply, and settled down as the match began, but she felt like she didn't enjoy it as much as she might have…her mind occupied with Mrs. Malfoy's strange questions.

* * *

When the match was over (much to Damon's disappointment it didn't last for days) one of Mr. Vaisey's work friend invited them to their tent for a nightcap, and so they got to linger just a little longer in the celebratory atmosphere, with the cheerful music of the Irish revelers coming through the open tent door, as Leo and Damon recounted Viktor Krum's plays over and over again. It was very late when Mr. Vaisey said, "Well, we'd better see about that portkey back. It's far too late for you lot, though you can lie in in the morning."

They were trudging back to the portkey departure point when the sounds seemed to change. Cheerful Irish jigs and drunken revelry turned to screams and the sharp crack of combative spells.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing we want any part of," answered Mr. Vaisey. "Get on, all of you. Honestly, I said all along it was a security risk for Britain to host the cup. Come along, let's get back to the portkey before it gets any worse."

Auriga chanced to look back, and she didn't notice the muggle family, she only saw the masked figures, and felt a shudder of revulsion, and yet she couldn't quite look away, feeling bolted in place, until Leo grabbed her arm and dragged her along. And yet she could drag her eyes away from those masks until the portkey whipped them through space back to London.

* * *

The visit to Andromeda had done nothing but confirm she knew something about the girl, but Narcissa was no closer to knowing _what_. Talking to the child at the Quidditch World Cup had been useless, it was clear that whatever secrets might exist about young Auriga Hunter, she herself was unaware of them. She had made a few subtle inquiries at the Ministry and found nothing, and her request that Draco try to find out more about the girl had been met with skeptical acquiescence- he couldn't see why his mother was so interested in a random Hogwarts second-year. Narcissa felt like she was at a dead end, unless Andromeda could be made to talk. Or unless…unless she could talk to Bella.


	9. Making Connections

**Chapter 9- Making Connections**

Auriga found the first term of her second year rather trying. She had been very excited about going out for Quidditch, only to learn that there would be no Quidditch that year, but instead the tri-wizard tournament. While it was very exciting to have students visiting from other schools, all the visitors were over seventeen, and had no interest in interacting with second-years. And while watching the tasks was all very interesting to watch, that was only three days out of the entire year.

In addition to the lack of Quidditch, she was quite sure she didn't like the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She was in the minority on that, for after getting over their original apprehension most students thought that as a real Auror, Moody's classes were particularly exciting. Auriga was not sure she liked him at all, he tended to fix his eyes (both of them) on her in the most unnerving way. The only person who disliked Moody as well was Draco, and she didn't mention _that_ incident in front of him, although she had laughed hard and long when Leo had related the ferret story to her.

She had been mostly avoiding Draco, because he was in a foul mood that Harry Potter had been chosen for the Tri-wizard tournament, but one day she ran into him leaving the Great Hall after dinner, and as they were going the same way, he walked back to Slytherin with her. She carefully avoided mentioning anything about the tournament, Gryffindor, or Potter, sure to set off a tirade, and so instead they fell to talking about professional Quidditch, which brought up the World Cup of the previous summer. It seemed to remind Draco of something.

"Hey, what was my mother talking to you about there at the World Cup?"

She shifted her books uncomfortably. "Oh, nothing really. I just ran into her, literally I mean, and she remembered my name from when I saw you at the station, so just small talk."

"It was weird, she asked about you after that."

"Why would she care about me?"

"I don't know, that's why I said it's weird. I mean she wanted to know where you lived and about your family…I said I didn't know anything about you except you're all right for a Second Year."

"Can't you ask why she'd care?"

"I did. She wouldn't say."

"It's strange."

* * *

Auriga was staying up late to finish her charms essay. Leo had finally given up helping her, insisting he couldn't see how she could be perfectly normal in all her other subjects and so totally hopeless at charms, and he had been the last person to go upstairs. It was quite late and she was alone in the common room, but at least it meant she was free of distractions. At least, until a portrait behind her started making loud, throat-clearing noises.

She had never paid much attention to the portraits hung in corners around the Slytherin common room. Mostly they were dull old Slytherin alumni, who either slept, or were permanently absent from their frames. They rarely bothered students, and so she had rarely had cause to pay them any attention before, but finally after a few throat-clearings, which she ignored in favor of her essay, one of them spoke.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little miss herself."

She finally turned, and looked at the old man in the portrait by the bookcase. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't say exactly how.

"Are you speaking to me?"

"Who else, you foolish child, you're the only one in the room," the painting replied irritably.

"Well, since I've no idea who you are I can't see why you'd be bothering me."

"No idea? Obviously they don't teach history at this school anymore. Things were different when I was headmaster. I am Phineas Nigellus, former headmaster of Hogwarts, and former head of Slytherin House," he said expansively, seeming to expect her to be impressed.

"I've never seen your portrait before."

He looked offended. "In my day girlie, we taught children to address their betters with respect. I do not come to this portrait because I find children unbearably tedious, and have no wish to waste my time with your childish common room games."

"Then why are you here now?"

"I wanted to see you. I must say, the Black family has fallen to a sad state if you're the future, unable to master second year charms."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her homework. "You don't even know who I am."

"I know who you are Auriga, you're on the tapestry."

Despite a slight chill when he addressed her by name, she managed to sound completely uninterested. "I don't know anything about any stupid tapestry."

"The tapestry at Grimmauld Place, you idiot child. Walburga may have learned how to blast people off of it…that girl was always clever at charms…but it's still charmed so that Black heirs are added as they're born."

"I'm not a Black heir. I'm not an heir of anything. I'm just Auriga Hunter."

"Whoever said that was your name?" the portrait actually sounded surprised.

"My parents, who else would give me my name?"

"You really haven't got it figured out yet, have you? Honestly, this family goes downhill with every generation," he said huffily, and with an annoyed look, turned and left the portrait.

* * *

The next day she gave Cassie and Leo the slip, and went to the library alone. A glance at the index of a huge wizarding Atlas revealed no mention of the "Grimmauld Place" that the portrait had mentioned, but a book called _Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy _proved somewhat more informative. Indeed, Phineaus Nigellus was exactly who his portrait claimed to be, and he was by no means the only mention of the Black family. Indeed, despite their penchant for first cousins marrying, the Black family was prolific.

It was in a cursory glance at the family tree that a name caught her eye- Draco Malfoy. She followed the little gold line up, and of course she knew Lucius was his father's name, and his mother, who she knew only as Mrs. Malfoy, had once been Narcissa Black. As other, random names on the tree caught her eye, it slowly dawned on her- Cygnus, Cassiopeia, Pollux, Sirius, Bellatrix, Orion…all stars- just like Auriga.

She was still sitting, chin in her hand, staring at the family tree, when Leo dropped into the chair across the table from her.

"Are you mad at us?"

She glanced up at him. "Course not."

"Then why did you ditch us?" He pulled the book over and frowned at it in confusion, and then sighed. "What's going on, Auriga? What's wrong?"

She took the book back and closed it gently, thinking. He was one of her best friends, and it was all becoming a bit too overwhelming and confusing to handle on her own.

She told him everything.

"Wow," he said slowly as she finished. "Well…that is pretty weird, altogether." He studied his hands for a moment, and then looked back up at her. "Do you think…I mean, do you think it's…do you think you're maybe _adopted_?"

Of course that was exactly what she had been thinking, but she hadn't actually said it, and Leo saying it really brought it home. She shrugged. "Don't you think that's what it seems like?"

He took a deep breath, and nodded. "Well…maybe there's another explanation. I mean, couldn't you ask your Dad? You guys are pretty close, right?"

"What's he going to say? That he lied to me for thirteen years?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

* * *

Amelia Bones had not changed all that much in thirteen years, despite having risen in the Ministry to the point of overseeing the Wizengamot. She was still no-nonsense, straightforward, and fair, and she was still eerily good at reading people, so she knew the moment Andromeda came in that something was wrong.

Agitated through Amelia's polite inquiries about Ted and Dora, Andromeda was relieved to get to the point, it had been weighing on her conscience.

"Do you remember…the baby girl, back immediately after the war…"

Amelia glanced up sharply. She had her own office now, no one else around to overhear, but then at the Ministry ears were everywhere, and methods of magical eavesdropping were hard to detect.

"I remember," she said quickly.

"The people who took her, do you remember their names, where to find them?"

"The woman died years ago, not long after they took her in. The man, I would imagine is in Scotland still. Why? Why now?"

"They're in danger. The little girl is, and he is too."

"Nonsense. No one could possibly know. I destroyed all the documents, Andy. There aren't any records, official or not. Nothing. I burned them."

"There's one thing you didn't think about. I didn't think about. We should have, but she didn't look…well, she just looked like a baby. I never expected, she looks exactly like Bellatrix. Exactly. I saw her myself in Diagon Alley last year and I knew her in a second. Now that she's at Hogwarts, people are going to notice."

"Maybe it's not as bad as you think. I mean really Andy, maybe the resemblance is only to you, because you knew her better…"

"No, that's the thing. I saw her in Diagon Alley a year ago, I knew who she was, and I didn't do anything, because…she looked fine, a normal child. I thought it best to leave her alone. But Narcissa has seen her now, coming and going from school. She knows something is going on, she came around asking-"

"Came around? You mean to see you? Narcissa?"

Andromeda nodded gravely. "That should tell you how serious she is about this. She's not going to let it go. She's going to figure it out. And when she does, the child will be in danger, and the parents who took her in will be in even more danger. Someone needs to warn them."

* * *

"I'm afraid not, Mrs. Malfoy. I'm afraid we cannot grant you permission to see your sister."

Narcissa frowned. "Do you know who I am?" she asked the young Ministry clerk, in a voice that she had found very effective with others.

He merely gave her bland look in return, but when he spoke, his voice was cold. "I do, Mrs. Malfoy. I also know who your sister is. There are no visitors to that wing of Azkaban except in the most extreme of circumstances. Besides, Ma'am, I am not sure your health would withstand the visit. Most who are forced to visit there even for a short time find it most unpleasant." He smirked at her, and then wished her a good day.

She stepped into the hallway, seething. She would not be kept from Bella. She would have Lucius appeal to someone else. Perhaps a bribe. Something could always be done. She simply had to see Bella, she had to know for certain.


End file.
